Silent Time
by mayajane
Summary: Hermione is an unspeakable working a case when a group of muggles start to act strangely. A team must be assembled from the Department of Mysteries in order to stop this threat before the wizarding world is gone forever. After her informant is found dead, Hermione is put as risk as well and must rely on her teammates to keep her safe. Rated M.
1. Tatia Bordoph

Silent Time

This is a story I've been working on for awhile. Let me know what you think and I'll write my best! Rated M.

Chapter one- Tatia Bordoph

My eyes never left the target as he crossed the street without evening looking both ways. He was about a foot taller than I was and wearing the same suit he had worn the last three days. My instructions were to find his drop point and it seemed this laundry mat was what I was looking for because this time he didn't have any clothes going in or coming out. I pulled the keys out of the ignition and got out of my car. He was crossing down to the next block and once I saw he was out of sight I entered the suspected drop location.

"Hello? How may I help you?" an older woman with a very expensive suit approached me within a second of being inside.

"I'm a friend of the gentleman who was just in here. I was just making sure he wasn't up to trouble again, you see he has a family." I explained calmly. The woman didn't buy it for a second, but I hadn't expected her too.

"I know for a fact that any family he had are now deceased. So who are you really?" She inquired crossing her arms.

I pulled out my identification, "I'm with the Auror department." That wasn't exactly true but she bought it and told me what I needed to know. She sort of seemed like she wanted to tell me.

"He comes here every two weeks with an order. That's-

"Not all you know. Now, tell me what he wants?"

"Something called Titanium. And no I don't know who it goes to. I'm just the receptionist."

I raised an eyebrow at her almost amused, "Why would a laundry mat need a receptionist?"

Her eyes turned cold, "Get out."

"With pleasure, what's your name?" I asked, ignoring her. I saw her hand move slightly and had my wand at her throat before she finished whatever she was going to do.

"Name." I said again. Her eyes laughed but her tense stance told me she was scared, at least a little.

"Tatia. Bordoph." She hissed through her teeth.

"Now what's his name!" This was so important, that after two months of nothing I would find out his name.

She smiled, grinned even. I pressed my wand so far into her throat she started to cough. Her eyes finally had a little fear in them. Her eyes were a swirling green that I knew had the information I wanted.

"His name is Marcus. Okay now that you've got what you want, get the fuck out."

I let my wand drop and waved as I left the shop. I could have just used occlemency to take my information but I found it more enlightening to interrogate.

I wrote down her name and the address of the laundry mat before I turned the key and pulled away.

It was late, late enough to go home and sleep. So I drove home, forcing my eyes to stay open. I used the car for a few reasons. The target was a wizard who mixed his company with muggles in some kind of business arrangement. The car helped me blend in and I had always found driving peaceful. I suspected the target was even revealing himself to the muggles, violating the biggest law there was. My boss instructed me to find out at any cost. Tatia Bordoph was a witch or a squib, I wasn't sure if she had been reaching for a wand or something else. She knew what my wand meant so she knew of the magical world.

I got home just before my eyes started to close. I saw dishes that needed cleaning and my fridge was in need of stocking. I had no energy to do the latter. A quick spell and the dishes were clean and put away. I'd never fallen asleep so quickly in my life.

The next morning I got up sluggishly and brushed my teeth. My hair was a mess and a charm fixed it. I grabbed my notebook and flipped through what I'd done last night. Damn I'd forgotten to check in with my boss. We finally had a name on someone in the group and we found out our mystery guy's name too. I could remember Tatia and her laughing eyes, but not so laughy at the end. If I hadn't been so tired I would have gotten even more from her. So I got dressed and headed to the grocery store we always met.

He was there, reading something off an item. Hermione knew better than to roll her eyes. He fucking knew everything. And saw everything.

"You know better, Granger." He said casually. Any hushed or raised voices would bring attention to us.

"I passed out. But I got names, finally. When I followed him last night he went inside a plain laundry mat, yes I thought it was strange too. I took a risk and went in after he left. I met Tatia Bordoph and a moment later I found out why he was there. It's Titanium. He was ordering Titanium." I struggled to remain calm. I was immeasurably excited to have information, at last.

"What's his name, Granger?" He asked instead of commenting on my find.

"Marcus." Maybe titanium wasn't that important after all, but I had been so sure this was a lead.

"And this Tatia didn't know why they wanted it?" He asked, smiling, all part of blending in.

"No, but she _is_ pretty shady. I should follow up."

He agreed, "Wait a few days and go back. I'll see if we have anything on Tatia or Marcus in the registry."

I walked away, having my orders. My boss was a striking man, with super sharp features that made him look too thin. His eyes were always hard, but smart. What caught my eye the first time I saw him was his uncommon shoulder length black hair.

The only thing was that I wasn't waiting a few days and I didn't think he believed I would. But he had to follow his orders and tell me to follow mine.

An hour later I was apparating to the alley behind the laundry mat. When I walked around to the front the lights were out and there was a closed sign in the window. I unlocked the door wandlessly and walked inside. I slipped and fell right on my ass, which hurt like hell.

" _Lumos_." The light burst into the room quickly instead of fading into brightness like it usually did. And then I saw why. Blood was everywhere; on the walls on the floor and on the ceiling and I was just sitting in a huge puddle of it. I carefully got to my feet dripping with cold blood. But it wasn't that cold, but more like cool. I cast a revealing spell but I was alone. A sinking feeling settled in my stomach, dragging despair with it. I walked behind the counter and gasped just a little because I'd known it would be bad. Tatia was sitting in an upright position and her throat had been slashed and then I noticed something else. Her left wrist had a pentagon burned into her skin. It didn't look fresh and it actually looked months if not years old. There was a piece of paper in her mouth, sticking out. I took it out and read the crinkled up message on the paper.

' _Traitor.'_

It was just one word and then I saw her tongue had been cut out. I felt sick to my stomach covered in blood and seeing her dead body. I didn't deal with that type of thing in my line of work and I turned around and got sick.

I had to contact my boss somehow and sent him a patronus. I was really frightened now. I talked to Tatia just mere hours ago and she'd been brutally murdered shortly after. It had to be because she talked to me and told me things. But if she knew she would die why tell me? There was no doubt in my mind that she knew her killer. The amount of rage in the room made me sure of it.

"Granger!" I spun around too quickly and slipped in the blood. It occurred to me then, I should have just used a cleaning or vanishing charm to get rid of it. Just as I fell so did my boss; he fell harder than me to ground and I even heard him swearing. I noticed then my lumos had faded away and I recast it, so he could see, see why I called him breaking so many rules by doing so.

"I don't know any protocols for this."

He glared at me but I could tell he'd never seen this kind of murder before. Any murders were a rare thing in our line of work. We dealt with time issues and misuse of spells and charms and we dealt with normal things. Not this.

"What the fuck is going on?" He swore, his face livid. What, did he think I did this?

"Meet Tatia Bordoph. " I said pointing to her dead body, my heart was still racing and I felt odd. Really off inside. I was probably going into shock.

"The name you gave me?"

I nodded, swallowing hard. "They, or he cut out her tongue and stuck this in her mouth." I handed him the note and watched his face change. He looked frightened. He was supposed to be calm and collected!

"There's a symbol on her wrist. A pentagon. What?" I asked seeing his face; the recognition on it gave me hope.

He completely surprised me by pulling me to help and apparating us away.

We landed in the ministry, I knew from the high ceilings. The room was large and more importantly, empty.

"Clean yourself up." He said and did the same. Once our clothes were back the way they were I still felt the blood, drying on my skin even though it was gone.

"Don't say a word, you hear me? Nothing." He looked dead serious so I nodded a little insulted. If he told me to shut up, I would.

The minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt walked in with a grim look on his face. He was wearing brightly colored robes and looked as tired as we felt.

"This couldn't wait until morning, Arnold?"

Apparently his name was Arnold which didn't seem to fit. "There was a murder on one of our suspects. Wiccans. It was terribly brutal; they cut out her tongue and slit her throat. My lead agent found her and like she told me, there aren't any protocols for this."

The minister was ashen in the face and it took a moment before he spoke.

"We'll need a team. Make one and include Hermione. It's no use pretending we don't know each other. You and your rules Arnold. Leave the body for the muggle police to find. Good evening."

I couldn't even smile as he left because I felt too drained and I thought she would cry the moment I was alone. But in this job you had to be professional.

"It's okay Granger, you did good now go home and wait for orders tomorrow."

I nodded mutely though I had dozens of questions. What had he meant by Wiccan? That was a muggle term. It meant, to my knowledge, muggles who thought they had magic. Muggles who thought themselves to be gifted with magic. What could they be involved with that brought them into our world of real magic? Arnold, my boss, seemed really shaken by our discovery in a way different from me. He knew a lot more than I did. Maybe I didn't have the clearance to know but I needed to know.

I was so tired and my hands still shook just a little so I went home and fell asleep, praying away any nightmares that might come.


	2. Time Turner

Silent time-Time Turner

Hope you guys like it, REVIEWS! Varden Blackwood, Bellamy Blade and Tinsley Overt are orignal characters as is Arnold, Hermione's boss. There will be many more to come. Let me know what you guys think of this chapter.

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The alarm I had set went off early in the morning. The sun was blinding my eyes and it took me a second to remember what happened yesterday. Shivers went down my spine as I remembered the look on Tatia's face and all the blood. I got in the shower, methodically following my routine. Some blood ran down the drain from my hair that had crusted. Cleaning charms weren't always 100 percent. After I was dressed I headed to the grocery store to meet my boss.

He was standing outside the front door instead of in our normal meeting place inside. He didn't say anything, just held out his arm for me to take. Part of me hesitated but I took his arm without a word.

I didn't recognized where we appeared, only saw six people sitting there at a table. Then I saw Harry, plain as day and he had just noticed me. So many things fell into place then because Harry and I were estranged for months now. I couldn't tell him what I did for work or where I went or even what I was doing. And he couldn't have told me either.

We were both Unspeakables.

Arnold pushed me towards my seat which happened to be next to Draco Malfoy. Other than harry and Draco I recognized Luna, though she was in an expensive suit and her dream like face was cold now.

I didn't have a chance to inspect the others because Arnold started to speak.

"You are all here because you are the best at what you do. Potter and Granger you'll be partnered together for the duration of the of this assignment. Blade and Blackwood, you'll be working together as Varden you are the guardian of the Hall of Prophecy and Bellamy you are the leader in the brain room and the two of you will work will together."

His tone made it clear they had no choice, I noticed. Varden I assumed was his first name and he had dark skin with strikingly long hair that was perfectly straight. He wasn't clean shaven and his eyes held anxiety but his posture didn't. He stared back as me but I didn't feel threatened. There wasn't any need to be as I felt by looking into his eyes, that he wasn't capable of killing. But can you really know that by looking at a person?

"Luna that would leave you with Tinsley Overt. You've met I believe." There was a hint of a smile on Arnolds face as he said this but I didn't have a clue what that might mean. I'd never seen him smile before and it was kind of disturbing.

Then Arnold turned to me, "Hermione would you please tell us about Tatia Bordoph and Marcus." His face was grime and a little green, remembering what we had seen. I stood up mechanically but reminded myself that I had never been some weak girl who couldn't stand up for herself. I was more than that my whole life and that wasn't going to stop now.

"Marcus is a man who I have been following for some time now. Just the day before yesterday I followed him to a muggle laundry mat and I found it strange that he went in and came out with any clothes. So I went in. Inside I met Tatia Bordoph and she told me his name and what he was doing there. He was ordering large quantities of Titanium. For a purpose we don't know. I reported to my boss and against orders went back to Tatia to find her brutally murdered in that laundry mat. Her throat had been slit, her tongue cut out and blood was smeared everywhere. There was a note left on her body that said traitor which I can only assume that she died for talking. I believe we are dealing with a different kind of threat here. Like nothing we've seen before." I stopped talking and waited for any questions.

"What is Titanium exactly?" Luna asked stiffly. I ignored her tone and answered her calmly.

"It a metal that muggles use to build and create things. Especially in the medical field. It has no magical property. But I should mention that I don't think Marcus is a wizard so their might be a purpose we just don't see. Tatia also had a pentagon burned into her wrist, possibly years old."

"Granger!" Arnold snapped and I was proud of myself for not flinching.

"Why were you following him, Mione?" Harry asked distracting everyone and slipping up on my name. It wasn't exactly professional but he didn't seem to care at all.

Arnold stepped beside me, "Hermione," He annunciated clearly, "was asked to follow a nameless man who was interacting with muggles and was thought to be revealing his magical ability to them. But we had no proof. Now, Hermione elaborate on what you just said."

I didn't hesitate, "I've been following him for close to five months now and in that time I have never seen a wand. Even if you are capable of wandless magic you would still use a wand. I've seen magic from him but it isn't like ours. So I asked myself, are their other types of magic than ours?"

Arnold touched my shoulder lightly, "You are too bright Hermione. There is another type of magic and it's called Wiccan magic. They use spells, potions just as we do, but with a different form of magic. While we are born with our magic, they have to practice and call to theirs. They have to earn it. We've only know of this magic for about a year. We didn't think much of muggles at all, let alone think they had magic. But what do they want?" Arnold spoke with fierce words that showed how frustrated he was.

"They probably feel oppressed or wish to be more powerful than us. Do we even know their numbers?" Harry asked catching on quick. But he had always been that way.

"No, we don't and that's the first thing we find out." Arnold answered him following his line of thinking.

My heart was pumping a little bit faster now, excited by the planning. Excited for answers we might get soon. Five months was a long time to go without any leads. It was settled that Harry and I would keep following Marcus until he found another place to put orders in. It was my opinion that he was the one to kill Tatia. I didn't know her and I had little opinions about her but I had looked in her eyes and seen something there. She was _someone_ and he killed her. Tatia had a strong will from what I had seen and she didn't back down easily unless she wanted too. That reinforced my thoughts that she wanted me to have this information. She wanted to name the man that might kill her. Or was I imagining it all? It didn't feel like I was. I was sad she died the way she did. Did anyone deserve to die that way? Even in the wizarding world we killed, or as good as killed, the murderers and traitors by sucking out their souls or imprisoning them. It was disturbing; sucking out someone's soul, but painless. It was just a feeling of being utterly alone and that was terrifying, I knew that. But something about that way Tatia died just felt so wrong to me. Inhumane. We might be witches or wiccans but we were both humans weren't we?

"Hermione?" I startled when Harry came to sit beside me. Others had already left with orders. I hadn't really been listening. My eyes stung a little and I pushed Tatia Bordoph out of my mind.

"Hi Harry." I said and jumped into his arms, glad to have my friend back. I was so sad when we drifted apart. I had so many secrets from him and he felt like our friendship meant nothing to me. That couldn't be further of the truth. After Ron died, Harry was all I had.

"I've missed you." He whispered and I let him go.

"Me too."

"I'm so sorry, Hermione. I feel like an asshole now." He rubbed the back of his neck and didn't look me in the eye.

"It okay but when did you-

"Just last month and you've been on for over a year haven't you?"

I nodded, pulling my hair from my face.

"Potter!" I looked over Harry's shoulder to see Draco Malfoy heading towards us. To my surprise Harry stood and just said, "Yeah?"

"Boss said I'm with you guys. Granger I need to pick your brain for a while."

"Okay. What about?"

Draco sat down with us, setting down his files. "You are right that he's not a wizard but a wiccan instead. Everyone has a distinctive time pattern for their lives. A timeline of sorts. At this point we can't tell time, or the future of one person, but I have been watching Marcus's time line, or lack thereof. Two weeks ago I couldn't find a trace he ever existed. And I was thorough."

"Wow man, back up. You can tell all that?" Harry said, a little shocked. I looked over at Malfoy and found his knowledge to be strange and new but sound. His hair was cut short, just like in school, but his light grey eyes were very different. Kinder and more serious somehow. Not to mention he looked good. Really good. I shook those thoughts away, hard. It was useless to think about anyone that way right now.

"Yes, I can. I work in the time chamber and I study time. My department created the Time Turner."

He said this with a great smile, as wide as I'd ever seen. I could remember seeing him smile with his friends at school but now was different. He was different. And that was something I couldn't shake from my thoughts.

"Granger, any ideas?" He asked. I shook my head.

"What would make a person disappear from time?" I asked instead. He smiled again, "Good one, there are only two things to hide you from time. Well three. One is a broken Time turner, another is an invisibility coat, of one kind, and death. Seeing how about a hundred time turners when missing about two months ago I would say that's what he's using."

"Well there we have it. What do you mean exactly by a broken time turner?" Harry asked, shifting in his seat. We all sat at the table where the meeting had just been held.

Draco opened his file and read off the paper, "Basically, remembering how powerful a Time Turner is, if you break it and its kept around you, you exist outside of time. Not relative to anyone or anything. Its possible that you could travel in a different way. If he moves outside of time its possible we might not be able to see him if he doesn't want us too. That could be that same for anyone else doing what he's doing. This is worse than I thought." He finished looking gravely at us.

"If he lets us see him and we take the Time Turner from him, will he die, or just be normal again?" I asked wanted to know if I would be killing someone. It was important to me to know things and to be aware of what I might be asked to do. Or told to do.

"I cant say. Either. There's no precedent for this. But I do know how time works and if he is walking outside of time there will be prices to pay or symptoms. Granger can you get a list of everyone place he's been since you've followed him?"

I reached into my bag and handed him my journal. "Everything I know about him is in here. The only place he went to as much as the laundry mat was a strip club a few blocks over. I never went in but he never came out with anyone. Its hard to explain but he's very attractive and I'm sure he knows it. I also sure he know I'm following him after the other day." I shook just a little remembering Tatia. Neither of them missed it.

"Show us Mione. I don't think I can understand until I see. It was really bad wasn't it?" Harry asked. I summoned a pensieve and poured my memories into it. Once they both went in I felt a few tears run down my face before I wiped them away angrily. I hated crying. It was so weak.

It was ministry policy that a pensive be stock in most rooms much like this one. A meeting room.

I felt no better than before having planned with the both of them. I didn't feel safe or secure, I just felt worried and a little scared. If he knew Tatia talked he knew who she talked to. Me. Was I next?


End file.
